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SAN FRANCISCO — The former player involved in one of the most infamous Super Bowl pregame incidents is trying to make sure the Panthers don’t repeat his mistake.

Former Falcons safety Eugene Robinson, whose arrest for soliciting sex from an undercover officer on the eve of the Super Bowl 17 years ago made him a national laughingstock, gave a speech to Carolina’s players Monday in hopes of steering them away from off-field trouble this week.

“It was just to tell these guys, ‘Don’t mess this up, man!’ ’’ Robinson told reporters Tuesday after word of his speech leaked to the Charlotte Observer. “I can be a living example: Don’t mess this up.”

Robinson, now a Panthers’ radio color analyst, knows he never will live down his arrest in Miami the night before Super Bowl XXXIII — incidentally, also against the Broncos.

Robinson’s arrest caused a huge distraction for the Falcons, who went on to lose the next day to Denver, 34-19, in John Elway’s final game. Robinson was pretty distracted himself, giving up an 80-yard touchdown pass that gave the Broncos momentum.

“If a team beats you, that’s different,” Robinson told reporters Tuesday. “But if you beat yourself, that’s criminal. I allowed myself to beat myself, and to beat the team, and that was criminal.”

Robinson, now 52, said he replayed his nightmare in vivid detail with the Panthers in an effort to scare them straight.

“I told them I cried all night,” Robinson said. “Dude, I cried all night. … How did I get way over here when I was way over here? Well, it is easy to lose your way when you’re selfish, and you’re thinking about yourself, and that’s what I did.”

Adding to Robinson’s embarrassment at the time was that he had just been given a national award for exhibiting outstanding moral character just hours before he was arrested for offering $40 for sex to a woman he thought was a prostitute.
Panthers coach Ron Rivera, who encouraged Robinson to give the talk, applauded it Tuesday.

“I think it was outstanding,” Rivera said. “I think it was one of the bravest things I’ve seen a guy do. When he got done, our guys gave him an ovation.

“For him to step up and relive that and to tell the guys he was wrong, he forgot the reason they [the Falcons] were there,” Rivera added. “That’s a huge message. I think that’s a great message.”

Panthers safety Kurt Coleman said he took Robinson’s words to heart.

“He said that the one loss that he had, he feels like he had a big part in it,” Coleman said. “His mind wasn’t mentally in it, obviously, for the circumstances that he put himself and his team into.

“So his message was have fun, enjoy this moment, but understand why you’re here,” Coleman added. “You’re not here to go to the beach. You’re not here to go to the parties. You’re here to win a football game and do everything you can to win it.”